Team India will look to hit the reboot button just days after crashing out of the T20 World Cup 2022 as they get ready to take on Kane Williamson’s New Zealand in the first of three match T20I series at Wellington on Friday (November 18). Both sides were losing semifinalists at the T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia and will look to bounce back quickly with winning start in this series.
India will be led by all-rounder Hardik Pandya with the regular skipper Rohit Sharma and former India captain Virat Kohli both given a break after the World Cup. Even head coach Rahul Dravid will be missing from this series with National Cricket Academy chief VVS Laxman stepping in as the interim coach in the series.
Home side New Zealand, on the other hand, have dropped experienced players like Martin Guptill and Trent Boult for the T20 series and will look to give more opportunities to players like Finn Allen and pacer Adam Milne. Finn Allen was the Kiwi discovery of the World Cup and is now established in their lineup. “Finn’s a very exciting talent,” New Zealand captain Kane Williamson said at the media interaction earlier this week.
Just sleep away from the first #NZvIND T20I #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/qiJXEAlG43
— BCCI (@BCCI) November 17, 2022
Team India may give an opportunity to young tearaway Umran Malik to rattle the Kiwis in windy Wellington while young guns Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant will be expected to open the batting in absence of regular openers Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul.
Check Live Scores and Updates from India vs New Zealand first T20I in Wellington HERE.
